In general, I have come to the conclusion that he is not always a reliable witness and that any affirmations made by him should be accepted with caution,

Mr. Chrétien did not reply in any way to the memorandum,

The commission did not and does not plan to submit its report to the prime minister,

not a foregone conclusion.

The 2000 audit made it apparent that ... management had not implemented any of the 1996 [Ernst and Young] recommendations, ... Nevertheless, information was dropped from the final 2000 report, with no mention of the 1996 audit.

It may be presumed that he did not want someone like Mr. Cutler to obstruct or delay his method of handling sponsorship files,